Dakota vs. the Pink Flamingo

Sunday came up with pretty much perfect weather, clear sky, warm sun, no more wind. Some of the group started the morning at the Feathers. I am kind of on an anti-Feathers kick (especially when there are more people up there than routes), so Julia, Ingrid, and I waited at the campsite and played with Dakota the dog. I repeated my mantra for the weekend, “this is a social trip, not a climbing trip”, threw some desiccated tennis balls and a chewed up foam frisbee for Dakota and ran between the campsite and the Feathers a few times (I am not bugging you to go climbing, I am playing with the dog!). Eventually things organized themselves enough for a leisurely noon start to a leisurely climbing day, and Julia, Ingrid, and I set off over the mesa with Michelle and Clare joining us later. The plan was to walk along the Sunshine Wall until there was something open that we wanted to do. As Julia predicted there was nobody on Steel Grill. Not sure why, maybe there is too much crack climbing for the sport climbers and too many jugs for the crack purists. Sometimes I like things as complicated as possible and this is about as complicated as it gets for 5.9 single pitch cragging. Anyway, this section of Sunshine Wall has a good selection of routes that I like.

Dakota at the Sunshine Wall

It was a fun, relaxed trip. I know it’s the beginning of the season for most people but I have been climbing since January (even though apparently it’s been the coldest spring ever), so I am feeling a little antsy for a less relaxed trip…

• Sunshine Wall, Steel Grill, 5.9 trad (lead) one of my favorites. Maybe my favorite 5.9 anywhere.
• Sunshine Wall, Bob’s Your Uncle, 5.11a trad (lead, TR) I’ve TR’d this several times, I don’t think I’ve led this before. Kind of feels like cheating, it’s a one move wonder and the one move isn’t that hard with small fingers. I still almost messed it up with my typical stalling and placing too much gear.
• Sunshine Wall, Hakuna Matata, 5.10b sport (lead) I have been doing lots of trad over the winter season, need to remember how to sport climb. Expected to fall once or twice because I am not that good at the bolted aretes, but not this time.

Sam was thinking of joining us on Sunday, but he decided not to because the weather forecast had a small chance of rain in it. Chris from Cle Elum was thinking of coming too, but he said something about being stuck up in a tree and having to put his truck back together. I thought we’d be on our own for the day, but while we were taking care of business involving shovels and blue bags at the mesa top, Liz sent me a text saying they had pulled in to the parking lot and were heading to the Sunshine Wall. So we sat down on the sign and waited for them (and about 30 other people also heading to Sunshine Wall). Soon we saw Liz, Shayna, Rebecca, and Micheal in the train of people coming over the mesa top, carrying a jug of orange juice and a bag of cookies.

When we got to the Sunshine Wall it was complete chaos as expected. Welcome to the only dry rock within 200 miles of Seattle! All the moderates like Party in Your Pants and Vantage Point were of course taken. If I didn’t want to try Stems and Seeds again we would have left the Sunshine Wall for somewhere quieter. Steel Grill was open so we started with that and Sunshine Buttress.

Sunshine Wall is Full

By that time we were done with those two routes, the chaos had migrated to our area. Steel Grill has the only chains for that whole set of routes so there was a bit of logistical fiddling with people descending. My anchor draws ended up on another route (backed up with a hot pink vintage 1985 gear sling (??)), people were leading to anchors already used for topropes, ropes were left up for descending, etc. Fortunately everyone was paying attention so nobody dropped anything or rappelled on top of a leader, and I think everyone ended up with the right gear and got to climb what they wanted to.

Surprisingly or not, there were three of us that wanted to climb Stems and Seeds, but the other two guys kindly let me have it while they did the other 11s in the area (Bob’s Your Uncle and Mix it Up). It starts on a pillar just big enough for two people and a rope, so we started with a debate over whether the gray TCU was 4kN or 6kN (we’re both wrong, it’s 5kN). I backed it up with the smallest nut I have anyway. The gear was there (even if it was tiny and required some fiddling with nuts and fumbling of TCU’s), and it was nice to already know what to bring from TR’ing it 2 weeks ago. It was definitely nice to be able to place the .75, 1, and 2 camalots that I’d stashed on the back of my harness for the roof and wider crack at the top. The only, uh, hitch was the overhand knot that appeared in the middle of the rope. Fortunately it appeared at the only point in the whole route that had a giant ledge to stand and wait on.

Mike on TR on Stems and Seeds (doing it the right way)

Sketchy was looking for offwidth, and he found a nicely unpleasant one on Stroken the Chicken, but unfortunately it’s surrounded by the rest of the route, which features ladder-like jugs in a comfortable corner. He still got to place the big cams and big bros, but I got to ignore the wide stuff and 5.6 my way up. The other side of the offwidth crack is called Shady Chimney, and looks like it might be more of what he was looking for.

I wanted to try Mix It Up (5.11, begins on 4 bolts then goes into a gear protected crack), but Sketchy pointed out that the sun was in the process of setting so we started packing up. Short days and crowds aren’t really conducive to getting a lot of climbing in. We did get to see Chris on the way back through Cle Elum, and hear about his tree- and truck-related adventures…

• Sunshine Wall, Steel Grill, 5.9 trad (lead)
• Sunshine Wall, Sunshine Buttress, 5.10a sport (TR) at first wasn’t sure if I’ve done this before, but I think I’ve done every 9/10a on the Sunshine Wall
• Sunshine Wall, Stems and Seeds, 5.11b trad (lead) which would make 11b my hardest redpoint grade, but I imagine doing it in the right side crack instead of stemming actually makes it easier…
• Sunshine Wall, Stroken the Chicken 5.6 (follow) aka the wrong side of Shady Chimney

Sunshine Wall (photo from a trip 2 years ago)

This fall, Sketchy is going to school on weekdays and working Friday evening and Saturday during the day, so our trips have to be a little shorter than they were in the summer. Vantage is not a bad day trip, even the early morning drive towards the sun rising over the Cascades is more pleasant than tedious.

We headed to the Sunshine Wall to start at one of Sketchy’s favorite climbs, Steel Grill. At which point he informed me that it was my lead. Hm. I wouldn’t usually pick a 5.9 trad route as the very first climb of the day, sin. Upon further consideration, I decided to go for it. I’ve done it before on toprope, what could go wrong? And I was too lazy to go look for another route.

Steel Grill also shares an anchor with Bob’s Your Uncle. Its 11a rating is courtesy of the last 10 feet of thin finger locks/lieback/stemming nonsense, so it’s definitely worth doing while Steel Grill is set up. If you fall off near the top on TR you pendulum over and have to finish on Steel Grill anyway.

While I was cleaning the anchor, a group of guys rappelled down the neighboring Stems and Seeds. Turns out they were intending to set up on Sinsimellia, which is almost a number grade easier. All these columns do kind of look the same. The first two guys just thugged up stemming the whole way. The third used a bit more technique, but he still had to switch sides between the two cracks. They kindly gave me a chance to try it (probably hoping it would be entertaining to watch the short girl climb the must-be-this-tall stemming problem). When I stepped up to the start I couldn’t even reach between the two cracks with my hands. No stemming for me. The right side crack definitely looked doable as a finger crack with even a few face holds for feet, at least as far up as I could see, but I expected to get shut down eventually. To my surprise, the thin crack went, the whole way. All the way to the surprise easy hand crack at the top.

I’ve had a goal on my 43 Things list for a while to lead a 5.11. It’s just happened that this summer I haven’t really been in a group situation where I felt I had the time to try something that I might not get easily and quickly. But today was it — Sketchy was not really feeling the climbing, and we weren’t about to go home after driving two and a half hours (and one difference between Vantage, and, say, Leavenworth, is that there is not a Bavarian-themed distraction ten minutes away). I had the captive attention of my favorite belayer, and his favorite easy 5.11, Weep Holes on a Sill, just down the trail. It’s short, bolted, and there’s only one part that’s actually 11a (which I figured out when I tried it 4 or 5 times in the spring). Somehow I actually got it clean on my first try leading it this time (but then messed it up on TR when I did it a second time). So that was that.

We did two more routes on the lower columns. I would have wanted to stay longer, but Sketchy was kind of grumpy about climbing, and getting bored belaying, and good coffee and Mexican food in Cle Elum was calling us (along with the sun creeping behind the columns). I was pretty happy to be able to lead two 11s and TR two other ones, since I usually think of myself as more of a 9/10a climber (of course this is Vantage…).

• Sunshine Wall, Steel Grill, 5.9 trad (lead) listed as an “offwidth” but it’s really a regular sized crack with a few wide sections,
• Sunshine Wall, Bob’s Your Uncle 5.11a trad (TR) it starts out easier than Steel Grill, then it’s not.
• Sunshine Wall, Stems and Seeds 5.11b trad (TR) did the “and Seeds” variation (no stemming). The 5.7ish perfect hand crack at the top was a nice surprise.
• Riverview Park, Weep Holes on a Sill, 5.11a sport (lead) my first 5.11 redpoint! (I tried it on TR this spring)
• Riverview Park, Camazonia, 5.10b sport+ (lead)
• Riverview Park, The Creation of Tranquility, 5.11a sport (lead) my first 5.11 onsight!